


Mello

by Anonymous



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF
Genre: ESC, M/M, Music
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-23
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22868023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: But there was a darker side to Sweden, one that wasn't explored enough by people who couldn't look past ABBA and meatballs as the image of Sweden. There was a new image of Sweden now, one of dictatorship. (ESC story with original characters)
Kudos: 4
Collections: Anonymous Collection





	1. Chapter 1

Even though Teddy had lived in Sweden for nearly twelve years, he never understood the Nordic nation's obsession with the Eurovision Song Contest. Teddy didn't care for it much, or at all even, but he knew that his Swedish boyfriend Kennedy Clarksson couldn't get enough of the cheesy music fest. And he wasn't alone. It seemed that most Swedes were addicted to the glitzy music festival. But there was a darker side to Sweden, one that wasn't explored enough by people who couldn't look past ABBA and meatballs as the image of Sweden. There was a new image of Sweden now, one of dictatorship. The new president of the country, Flantis Aspelin, had begun as a peaceful and benevolent ruler, but things quickly changed as he got more and more power. He was becoming increasingly authoritarian and controlling. The peaceful Nordic nation was taken by surprise, with many people not knowing how to react. There were occasional protests in the streets, but nothing major. Not yet, anyway. There was one organisation, called SAF, Swedes Against Flantis, but they hardly had any popular support, mostly because they were going about things the wrong way. They would attack innocent civilians in the street who they suspected of 'collaboration', rather than going after Flantis himself.  
Upon winning the Eurovision for his country, Flantis declared that he was going to impose a strict new regime, which meant that criminals would be dealt with, before they became criminals. It was a cryptic speech, and no one knew what he meant by this. Not yet, anyway. But Flantis was convinced that with a little more time, he could create a method in which criminals could be discovered and arrested before they had even committed a crime.  
Walking past the rows of houses, Teddy saw the now abundent purple posters stuck to the lampposts. Pro-Flantis posters.  
'Not that he needs any more support, people submit to him like sheep', Teddy thought bitterly.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that day, Teddy was over at Kennedy's house for an extended visit. Teddy didn't want to talk about Flantis's dictatorship right now, right now he was trying to stop Kennedy from trying to convince him about the joys of the Eurovision Song Contest. Kennedy was playing all the songs that had been chosen so far on his phone, dancing to them.  
"It's just a bit rubbish though really, isn't it?" Teddy sighed.  
Kennedy snapped out of his trance and looked over at Teddy.  
"Rubbish? What is?"  
"Well, ya know, all this," Teddy pointed at Kennedy's collection of Eurovision posters that adorned the walls, "The music's rubbish, the singers are awful, the songs are woeful-"  
Kennedy cast him an evil glare before he said anything further about the contest.  
"You wouldn't understand," Kennedy said, "You're not a fan like me."  
"And I'm very glad that I'm not, too," Teddy laughed.  
"It's the 60th anniversary this year!" Kennedy yelled, "How can you not care?"  
"Oh, believe me, very easily..."  
"How? It's part of the tradition of this country!" Kennedy said, "Sweden is one of the core countries of the contest. I understand that you're British and in your country it is made fun of sometimes, but still."  
Teddy decided it was time to be a little more serious.  
"Well, Eurovision's just a distraction, isn't it?" Teddy said, "Flantis is building up all this hype around the contest, so that people will concentrate on that and not what he is doing in government."  
Kennedy was shocked at that. He knew Teddy was politically minded, but talking about Flantis like that? It just wasn't done. Not unless you wanted to disappear, anyway. At that moment, Kennedy's sister Katja ran into the room. Kennedy was relieved, that sure meant they didn't have to talk about anything awkward, like the state of the government. Most people just ignored it anyway and got on with their lives.  
"Hey guys, did you hear about the Latvian Eurovision entry?" Katja grinned. She was also very into the song contest. Not as much as Kennedy, but she was still a big fan.  
"Oh yes, Latvia chose their entry earlier today," Kennedy said, "Have you heard it yet?"  
"Not so fast," Katja said, "Actually, that song got disqualified for plagiarism, so the runner up is going instead! It's even better, in my opinion."  
"Wow, I can't believe I've missed that," Kennedy looked down at his phone so he could soak up all the latest Eurovision-drama.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple of days later, and now Kennedy was trying to convince Teddy to go to Melodifestivalen with him. He didn't want to go alone, and it just so happened that he had a couple of tickets. Melodifestivalen, the biggest singing show in Sweden. It also just happened that the winner of Melodifestivalen would also become Sweden's Eurovision entrant, representing the country.  
"Is Katja coming?" Teddy asked.  
"Yeah, of course," Katja said, "I'll be on the other side. By myself unfortunately."  
"Your friend Astrid doesn't want to go?" Kennedy asked.  
"Nah, she hates Eurovision," Katja sighed. Teddy grinned at that.  
"But... but it's Melodifestivalen, not Eurovision," Kennedy said, "Everyone in Sweden loves that... don't they?"  
"Well, not everyone," Teddy winked.  
"You don't count because you're not Swedish," Kennedy said. Teddy had to roll his eyes at that one.


	4. Chapter 4

It was the day of the Melodifestivalen final, but Teddy's mind was on other things. Over the last few weeks, Flantis had been getting worse. Propaganda spread throughout all the national broadcasters, newsreaders were forced to recite pro-Flantis news pretty much constantly. A few weeks ago, people who were vocal against the regime, as long as they didn't advocate violence against the Flantis government, were for the most part, left alone. But now, people were disappearing left right and center, and all Swedes knew the reason behind it. Flantis. Teddy was growing increasingly concerned for his adopted country and exactly what was happening here, and increasingly annoyed at Kennedy and Katja, who seemed far more interested in the Eurovision Song Contest than in the erosion of democracy in the once free Scandinavian nation. The three of them were sitting in the car, Kennedy driving to the Globen, were the final would be held. Kennedy was telling everyone in the car about the Bulgarian entry, which had been chosen last week, whether they wanted to hear about it or not. It was a duo, Miroslav and Carmella. Miroslav was one of the most popular singers in the Balkans, especially in his native Bulgaria. Carmella, who he would be singing his duet with, was a rising star after winning a Bulgarian talent show. Kennedy was telling Teddy all about it during the car ride there.  
"I really don't care," Teddy said, "I honestly do not care one jot about whatever it is you're talking about."  
"Bulgaria!" Katja said, as if Teddy had wanted this to be repeated, "The Bulgarians are going to be there, because they've chosen their artists already!"  
"Artists," Teddy scoffed, "If you can call them that."  
"Oh, they're very popular over there," Katja said, "They've won so many awards in Bulgaria."  
"Alright," Teddy rolled his eyes, "I don't care, really."  
Kennedy sensed that Teddy was thinking about other things.  
"Forget about Flantis, for just one night," Kennedy sighed, "Come on, unwind a bit. Have some fun!"  
"Flantis is everywhere, how can we forget?" Teddy said, but the two Eurovision fans ignored him. It seemed to be the usual approach these days, stick your head in the sand and pretend that everything's fine. Only everything wasn't fine. And someone needed to do something about it.


	5. Chapter 5

Soon they arrived at the Globen, and rushed to get inside and find their seats. Teddy was shocked at the amount of people who had come to see what was basically pre-Eurovision, while Katja and Kennedy weren't surprised one bit. They had been here a few times before, not as much as the real hardcore superfans had, but they had been here enough to know how things worked. In fact, the guy operating the ticket stand seemed to recognise them.  
"Ah, Katja, Kennedy!" the man said, causing the two Swedes to beam at him.  
"Howdy Artie!" Kennedy said. Teddy was floored, they had been here so many times that even the ticket man recognised them?  
"Who's your new friend? I don't remember seeing him around these parts before," Artie said.  
"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Teddy!" Kennedy grinned, before adding, "He loves Eurovision even more than I do!"  
Teddy simply rolled his eyes.  
"Ah, you must be a real superfan then, kid, to like it even more than Kennedy," Artie said, "Well then, go on through you three! Your seats are waiting!"  
The three of them walked through to the stadium. The lights were low and it was hard for Teddy who kept bumping into things, but Kennedy and Katja seemed to instinctively know their way around the stadium even in the low light. As they sat in their seats waiting for the show to start, a security guard approached them. Teddy hoped it wasn't anything too serious, after all, the Flantis government was known for making arrests for no reason. Well, it would have got him away from Melodifestivalen at least. But the guard simply turned to them and said, "Hey! Kennedy! Katja! So good to see you again!"  
Teddy sighed. This was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

Teddy felt like he was losing his mind by the fifth song. Yet another soppy love ballad sung in Swedish. And it just kept going on and on and on...  
Felix Krüsbar, was going to be the next act up to the stage. His real name was Felix Novasson. Teddy found it amusing that he had chosen 'Krüsbar', the Swedish word for gooseberries, as his stage name. It was certinaly fitting. Felix came out onto the stage dressed as a chicken, singing a song called 'Rooster Revival'. It was ridiculous, and cheesy to the extreme.  
"Eh, he'll be the novelty act this year then, I take it," Teddy sighed, "I would have said he will be the rubbish act, but let's face it, they're all rubbish at Eurovision."  
Kennedy didn't rise to it, after all, Teddy loved to get a reaction from him by bashing the contest.  
"Actually," Kennedy grinned, "Felix is the favourite to win the contest tonight."  
"Wha..." Teddy couldn't tell whether Kennedy was joking or not, after all, stranger things have happened at the Eurovision Song Contest. But Kennedy didn't elaborate further, as it was already time for the next act. The crowd cheered louder than they had before as Felix walked off the stage, and Teddy worried that Kennedy was right and that Rooster Revival would really win this contest.  
At that moment, the Swedish-Norwegian singer Anja Aleksa walked out onto the stage. She was the typical schlager singer that so often graced the Melodifestivalen stage. Teddy wasn't impressed. It was yet another soppy love ballad, this time sung in a mixture of Swedish and Norwegian, but in all other respects exactly the same as all the others. At the end of her song, she thanked the audience, but then did something completely unexpected.  
"Down with Flantis!" she chanted, "Flantis is a dictator! Save Sweden! Get rid of Flantis! Democracy now!"  
It caught everyone by surprise, no one had been expecting any sort of political message at the cheesy festival. Some of the audience applauded, the rest were too scared to do anything. Teddy grinned. It was the first time he had ever truly respected a Melodifestivalen participant. Suddenly, the security burst onto the stage.  
"No!!!" Katja yelled, "Anja!"  
"Well, come on then," Anja said, "People from all over the world are watching this live event, so, come on! Show the rest of the world what the government here is really like!"  
The security guards grabbed her, roughly pulled her from the stage and dragging her back into the green room where the other entrants of the competition watched on in shock. She was then dragged out of the back door, to the car park of the Globen.  
"What's happening now?!" Kennedy yelled in shock. Melodifestivalen had taken a dark turn, and there was no going back now.


	7. Chapter 7

Anja was pushed down to the ground, security surrounding the defenceless singer. Anja knew what this would probably lead to, her being arrested. Her possibly having to spend a long time in the slammer for attacking Flantis on the live show. But she wasn't prepared for what would happen next. She heard a click and turned to see a security guard aiming a gun at her. Her eyes opened wide, she hadn't expected this.  
"Wait... what?! No! Please!" she pleaded with them but it was no use.  
Inside the arena, no one said anything. You could hear Anja begging outside, but inside the arena was silent. That was when they heard it. A single gunshot pierced the silence.  
The security guard walked back into the arena. Kennedy and Katja thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, but it did. Only one of the security guards was holding a gun, and it was the one who recognised them, the one who they had considered their friend. It was he who had shot Anja Aleksa.  
The ride home was one in silence.


End file.
